USS Pensacola essays

USS Pensacola essays My grandfather, who is still alive today, joined the United States Navy in 1944, as a young man. He went through basic training at Great Lakes Training Base. After his graduation from basic training, he was sent to the South Pacific for duty. His first assignment was in the Admiralty Islands on a floating dry dock. After a short tour there, he was sent to the Philippine Islands where he was assigned duty with the Naval Supply Depot and the 24th Seabees. His job there was to oversee the establishment of a supply depot for supplying the 5th and 7th fleet. My grandfather oversaw the unloading of the many incoming cargo ships that were carrying war supplies and much more. The location of this supply depot was in a hot zone that took on fire many times each and every day. It was mostly sniper fire. According to my grandfather, the snipers were not very good. They scored very few actual hits. They were taken out by United States forces. The sailors would typically take cover u ntil the fire stopped, and then resume working. My grandfather spent slightly more than one year in the Philippine Islands. Once the war was declared to be over, and the smoke had cleared from the two atomic bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, he transferred back to the 7th fleet. He was assigned duty on the USS Pensacola (CA-24). The USS Pensacola was a heavy cruiser that was named after the city of Pensacola, Florida. This heavy cruiser was built at the Navy Yard, New York, at a cost of $11,100,000. It was launched from the Navy Yard on April 25, 1929. This amazing ship stood sixty five feet three inches tall and measured five hundred eighty five feet seven inches long, displacing nine thousand one hundred tons of water. There were ten eight inch fifty five caliber guns, eight five inch twenty five caliber guns, and several twenty and forty millimeter canons. The heavy cruiser was capable of air attacks, surface engagements, and ...